Born Pretty Ylin Mood Polish #7

Hey guys!

Long time, no see huh? This job search thing has been sucking up all my time and depressing the shit out of me, so I haven't been doing my nails or anything. I just hope the end of the tunnel is in sight soon. x_x

But anyway, I recently received something from the amazing Nicole at Born Pretty that really helped cheer me up. This is Ylin Mood Polish #7, or as listed on the website, New Magic Purple/Sky Blue Color Changing Mood Nail Polish Nail Art #7

When it's warm, the polish is sky blue and when it's cold, the polish is a nice lavender. I have a very warm body and short nails, so here's how it looks on me most of the time. 

Natural light, no flash.

And here's what it looks like after a dip in ice. 

And here are some shots of it in between:

     Okay, so visually, I love this polish. Both the blue and purple are beautiful on their own, and when they are transitioning, create this awesome gradient effect. And the color-changing thing happens so quickly and effortlessly. I did a demonstration for my sisters with some ice, and they were all really amazed at it. So based on how it looks and works, I would 100% recommend it to anyone. I think it would be really cool to konad over it too, so stay tuned for that.

    However, application was a little bit tricky. The formula was pretty thin and watery, so I needed four coats to get full coverage and I had to go really carefully and slowly to get it to not have bald patches. It also didn't wear too well, maybe because the formula was so thin. But layering it and making sure to use a top notch topcoat would probably solve those problems. 

But that's all from me today!

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Thursday!

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Swatches

Hey guys!
So during the move home, my polish collection got all jumbled up and I've been trying to sort it out and figure out what I still own and don't. During the inventory, I realized that even though I've owned my Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics polishes for over a year, I haven't tried them out yet. So I decided to do that.
All pictures are under an Ottlite with no flash, and all have basecoat and topcoat.

First up is Echo.

Echo is a deep, rich teal creme. 

  There's not too much to say about Echo lol. It's kind of a dark teal that leans very green and is pretty and flattering. I think the best thing about Echo really is the formula. This is two coats, and they went on smooth and creamy as butter. The dry time is also amazingly fast even without topcoat, which is nice. 

Next is Radiate.

Radiate is a super bright, reddish-orange jelly. 

Radiate is a little more exciting than Echo. I've been looking for a good, super-bright red for a while, and I think Radiate is as close as I'm going to get, even though it always looks very orangey on me. I also love the squishy-looking jelly finish of it, although application can be rather annoying, due to the fact that it needs kind  of alot of coats. In the pictures, I believe I'm wearing four. Good news is it slides on nicely and also dries fast. Going forward, I will probably put Radiate over a white to make it even brighter and to make application easier.

And last is Rx.

Rx is a bright and saturated azure blue jelly. 

Rx is pretty much a bright blue version of Radiate, except for I didn't find it to be that bright on the nail. That was kind of disappointing for me actually, because I expected it to be retina-searing, and it wasn't. All the same, it's a pretty and flattering color and perfect for the summer. Rx's formula was pretty similar to Radiate's, except for it didn't go on quite as smoothly, especially in the corners. But the opacity is the same...I'm wearing three coats in the pictures, and as you can see, I have a little more VNL than in the Radiate pictures. 

Hopefully, this week, I will be able to show you guys some cool stuff from Born Pretty and to finally finally post that giveaway I have been blabbing about for like ever.

So keep an eye out for that stuff, thanks for reading, and have an awesome Tuesday!!

Graduation Nails! (Zoya Phoebe + Jordana Funky Gold Town)

Hey guys!
Firstly, sorry about disappearing again. The past two weeks have been taking care of last minute things, prepping for graduation, and going to senior stuff, and it was way busier than I could have imagined. Don't worry though...school is over for real for real and I'm not employed (working on it though), so I will probably be a much better blogger for the forseeable future lol.


But anyway, Saturday and Sunday were my graduation dates (yes, I had two graduations lol), and of course, I had to wear something festive on my nails to celebrate. Since my school colors were buff and blue and time was short, this is what I ended up with:

I started with two coats of Zoya Phoebe, and then applied one layer of Jordana Funky Gold Town on top.

Then I applied a layer of BYS's Matte Topcoat to finish it off.  Super easy and quick. :D 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      Even though it wasn't what I originally wanted, I really liked how this came out. The glitter looked pretty against Phoebe's shade of blue, and I appreciated how easy Funky Gold Town was to put on. With chunky glitter, there tends to be placement issues, but in this case, I swiped on the polish and the glitter went exactly where it was supposed to, which was nice. However, I need to go to one of these meetings where they decide the names for polishes. Funky Gold Town? Clearly, everyone there was drunk.  

And unrelated, but I think I'm gonna go back to square nails. The pointed ones were fun, but I've been scratching the hell out of everyone (never myself though oddly enough), and soon, nobody will want to be my friend anymore. Plus, I think they look prettier on my hands. So back to squares I go. 

But that's all from me today! 

Thanks for reading, and have a happy hump day!! 

Wet n Wild Back Alley Deals

    Hey guys! So first off, I'm really excited because The Phalanges Files has broken 600 followers!! That's so crazy to me, and I'd like to thank all of you for hanging out with me and reading my senseless rambles. I was going to have a giveaway anyway, but maybe I'll make it a little bigger to celebrate lol. 

Finals are fully upon me, so today's post is a little blast from the past from the backlog.  This is Back Alley Deals, from Wet n Wild's Ice Ice Baby Collection. 

Back Alley Deals is made up of lots of small amethyst glitter, with larger bits of fuchsia hex glitter thrown in. 

Sorry for the bubbles, btw. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

       Although I don't think I like the name very much, Back Alley Deals is beautiful! The purple glitter is so luxe-looking and blingtastic, and the little bits of fuchsia add some nice interest. I also liked how delicate and feminine my nails looked with Back Alley Deals on, since sometimes, glitter can make your nails look clunky and weird. My only critique of this polish would be that I wish the fuchsia glitter offered more contrast against the base and I wish the polish came in the standard .5 oz. size, but overalll, I'm really happy with Back Alley Deals. 

     Back Alley Deal's formula was okay. The coverage wasn't awesome (I needed four coats for the opacity in the pictures) but the polish went on smoothly and dried quickly. It also needed lots of topcoat to be smooth and shiny. In the future, I'll probably layer it to conserve polish and time. 

But that's all from me today!! 

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend, and thanks for stopping by! 

Famous Polish Trailer Park Rash

Hey guys! For today, I have another Famous Polish to show you guys. This time, it's Trailer Park Rash. I think it's supposed to be Trailer Park Trash, but it says Rash on the bottle, so that's what we're going with. Either way, it's hilarious.

Sunlight, no flash.

Trailer Park Rash is a bold shimmery teal. In person, it's much more green than it appears in these pictures. Not sure what shenanigans my camera was up to. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

I really like Trailer Park Rash. It looks kind of boring in the pictures, but in person, it's more interesting. There's more green like I said, and in some lights, the shimmer almost looks kind of duochrome-y. It did have a tendency to bubble though...I had to apply it three different times to get it presentable, which was not fun. But I don't think there is anything to be done about that...I will probably just not use it so often and when I do, I will have to be extra careful. 

   Formula-wise, Trailer Park Rash was pretty good besides the bubbling. It went on smoothly and only needed two coats to be opaque. It also dried quickly and wore very well. The pictures are after three full days of wear, going on four, and besides a little tipwear, it still looks good. I should also mention that there's no topcoat in the pictures because I couldn't find mine, so really, the dry time and wear is doubly impressive. 

And that's all from me today!!

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a very happy Friday! (I'm sad because I want to see The Avengers and can't because I have too much homework. ;___; If you go, enjoy it doubly for me, okay?)

Happy (Extra Belated) Earth Day! + Maui's Dolphins

Hey guys! Sooo almost one absolutely miserable week later, I finally have the last post for Earth Week for ya'll. 
This time, it's Maui's Dolphins:

I love their nubbly little fins and chubby bodies.

    Maui's Dolphins are a tiny group of dolphins endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. They're a sub-species of another Kiwi species of dolphin, Hector's Dolphin. Like most dolphins, these guys are a really social and clever species and can be observed playing and chatting with each other as they go about their business. They're also really cute, unless you're one of those people who are terrified of dolphins. But anyway, a combination of the Maui's Dolphin's tiny living space and reproductive cycle, which includes waiting like 9 years to have kids and then only having one baby every 2 - 4 years means that its numbers have traditionally always been on the low side, compared to most dolphin species, but they've been steady. But lately, their numbers have been declining at a crazy fast rate with there only being 55 of them left the last time anyone checked. 55! In the whole world. The reason is that fishermen will use nets to catch other fish and will end up catching the dolphins instead. Dolphins caught in a fishnet can't get to the surface to breath, so they drown to death, which is a terrible way to go for anyone, but even more sad for marine mammals like Maui's Dolphins. Of course, an easy way to stop these guys from going extinct is to make stricter rules about or outright ban the use of nets in the dolphins' habitats, but nobody wants to do it. Why are people so mean and selfish to the animals? ;___;

For their vaguely greyish-blackish coloring (which up-close is apparently quite beautiful), I decided to wear Sephora by OPI If You Got It, Haunt It, from their Halloween 2010 Collection. 

If You Got It, Haunt It is a bunch of tiny black and silver glitter in a black jelly base, with larger pieces of blue-green opalescent hex glitter mixed in. It's pretty interesting. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      If You Got It, Haunt It is quite pretty...it looks a lot better in person lol. Sometimes, black-grey glitter comes out kind of dull or bleh-looking even with topcoat, but I find that's not the case with this. It's not super-sparkly or anything, like Milani Silver Dazzle, but it sparkles just enough to get a hint of the glassphalt look. The opal hex glitter is also a nice touch. It's kind of subtle and doesn't come across too well in the pics, but in real life, I can look down at my nails and get little glints of other colors amongst the black, which I love. 

    Formula-wise, I didn't have any trouble with If You Got It, Haunt It. It was opaque in three coats, went on easily, and dried quickly. Cleanup was also a snap because it was pretty easy to control, and I actually found that it wasn't as gunky as some other glitter polishes. So yep, I am a happy camper. 

And that is the end of Earth (Semi)Week! 

Sorry for missing so many days, but I will try to post some pretty things this week to make up for it lol. And I'll be posting a giveaway soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome night!

Jade Vine

Hi guys!! Sorry for dropping out on ya'll like that...in the past two days, things have gotten incredibly real so I haven't had time to paint my nails at all. Been strolling around buck naked...not even any clear coat for protection...just enjoying the breeze.
But moving right along, today's post is going to feature a plant instead of an animal. Animals are cute (sometimes) and fine, but really, it's plants that allow us to live on Earth today. Without them, we would have no air...no air. So we have to pay attention to them too. This is the Jade Vine:

    Although this gorgeous plant can also be seen in botanical gardens and greenhouses and is cultivated in Hawaiian gardens for decorative purposes, it is native only to the tropical rainforests of the Philippines. Jade vines provide food and shelter to bees and butterflies, which are important organisms in the rainforest, as so many plants there rely on bees and butterflies as pollinators. Without pollinators, there can't be any seeds. And no seeds mean no new plants when the old ones die. Since the jade vines allow the bees and butterflies to live happily, that makes them an important part of the rainforest ecosystem too. Sadly for the jade vines (and the butterflies and bees), they are quickly disappearing in the wild due to deforestation. 

I really loved the colors of this plant, so I wanted to base my nail look on them:

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     To do this, I started with two layers of Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility and let that dry. Then I used a chunk of a kitchen sponge (didn't have a makeup sponge lol) to pat on some Zoya Breezy and let that dry a bit. Next, I patted on some Color Club Pucci-licious, and when that was still wet, I applied topcoat, to try to blend the colors in a little bit better. Obviously, the blending did not happen, but I still like how this turned out. 

I also think it would be cool to water marble with these, so when I can find the time (maybe after finals), I'll do that and show it to you guys.

But that's all from me today!

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Saturday!! (Mine will not be awesome...it will be filled with homework and misery. ;__;)

P.S. Earth Day is tomorrow!! :D